(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
Materno Biwot wants fellow refugees and other migrants to take part in a free beach safety program.
It comes as recently released figures show more people born overseas are drowning off the state's coast.
Ryan Emery reports.
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On a windswept cliff face above a Perth beach, Materno Biwot leans against a wooden railing with his hands clasped.
He's quietly saying a prayer - asking God to grant his son Jenon Biwot eternal peace.
It was at this beach in Perth's northern suburbs where 14-year-old Jenon died earlier this year.
The South Sudanese refugee was in waist-deep water.
It's believed he was caught in a rip, panicked and drowned.
His father says he was at the beach with two friends.
"One of his friends tried to help him, but he could not. He just caught him by his fingertips, but they couldn't get hold of his wrist and it was hard for them. And all that happened in very quick time. Nearly some seconds and he was gone."
Jenon Biwot came with his family to Western Australia three years ago and learnt some swimming basics at school.
But he had limited experience swimming in the ocean.
Materno Biwot doesn't want the same tragedy to befall another family.
He's teamed up with Surf Life Saving Western Australia to teach migrants and refugees how to handle themselves in the surf.
"There is a lot of naivety because people don't know how this water behaves because we came from landlocked countries we have never seen huge bodies of water like this. And we just come so excited and we come to the beach, but without getting the education. There's so many things that we need to know about the water. We need to know about the sharks, we need to know about swimming, we need to know about rips."
A recent report from Surf Life Saving WA shows of the 17 people who drowned off the state's coast between last May and April this year, 53 per cent were born overseas.
That's up 15 per cent from the previous period at 38 per cent.
Nationally, in that same period, it was 28 per cent.
Paul Andrew is the chief executive officer of Surf Life Saving WA.
"It's quite obvious that more and more people are coming to Western Australia proliferating up and down our coastline. The beaches and the coastline are a huge attraction for people coming to Western Australia and everyone wants to be part of it. Some 80 per cent of people in Western Australia live within five kilometres of the coastline. So from that point of view it's extremely important we get to educate people coming into Western Australia so when they go to the beach, they can attend safely."
The organisation is running a free beach safety program for migrants aged 6 to 25 years.
They're taken to a beach and taught to identify a rip, how to handle a wave and be generally safe in the water.
"We need to grab this generation of immigrants coming into Australia at a school age so they can embrace the beach, have a beach background so when they go on to have children and so forth it becomes a part of their lifestyle as it is ours."
Materno Biwot is hoping to go a step further than enlisting people to the education program.
He wants to become a volunteer surf life saver in memory of his son.
"If I had done that before and I was with my son, I could have saved him. But, I do it to help others. Not to experience the same thing again."
